All posts tagged ‘Ridiculo.us’

I remember when I was a kid my brother got a Transformers voice changer. It looked like a short, squat Optimus Prime, and when you pushed a button on the side, a little rubbery tube flipped up from the back and it played a flat tone. When you put the tube in your mouth and talked silently, you’d get a robot voice — although you had to be careful not to shove the tube too far back in your throat, and some consonants like Bs and Ps were hard to reproduce.

A few years ago, when I was setting up my Art-o-matic (an art “vending machine” with me inside) I found a voice changer gadget. It had a microphone and a speaker, and a couple of settings for a robot voice, a low voice (think Darth Vader) and just amplification. It did the trick, though you did have to speak audibly enough for the microphone to pick up your voice.

Ridiculo.us, the team that brought you the Run Free Race (as well as a campaign to end infant beardlessness), just launched a new Kickstarter project for the WeeWow, a little device that turns your iPhone into a talkbox. More like that old Transformers toy than my voice changer gizmo, the WeeWow slips onto the bottom of your phone (where the speaker is) and routes the sound through a tube to your mouth, where you can shape the sound into words and weird robot noises. What’s more, since it can use any sound coming from your iPhone, you can pretty much use any app that creates tones, giving you countless possibilities for the types of voices you can make.

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the Run Free Race, a marathon that takes place anywhere you are! The race starts at around 9 or 10 am in your time zone, so be on the lookout for runners as they go by. (Or, well, you may want to just watch for them online, under the hashtag #runfreerace or on the Facebook page.

While you’re at it, if you aren’t running the race, you could cheer me on. I’ll be “running” it myself, and as my training has consisted of the sort of running you see above, I can definitely use some encouragement to make it all 26.2 miles. Groupon, the platinum sponsor of the race, has provided these handy race signs — just print one out, fill in my name (or any of your friends who are running) and post some photos of yourself rooting for your favorite runners!

And for all you runners out there, be sure to watch for the GeekDad sign near the beginning of the race — we’re proud to sponsor Mile 3.14.

In case you missed the Kickstarter deadline, there’s still time to register for the Run Free 2013, the non-marathon taking place in February. You’re not eligible for the Kickstarter exclusives (like getting your name on your race bib) but you can still get the bib, sticker, T-shirt, and medal, depending on which package you pick.

Also, GeekDad is proud to announce that we’re one of the sponsors of the Run Free — so go sign up and join Team GeekDad as we (don’t) run a marathon! Click here to register, or visit the Run Free website for more information.

Have you ever wanted to run a marathon? Or maybe you just want to be able to say that you ran a marathon, without all of the actual work? The folks at Ridiculo.us (“We launch ridiculous things”) have come up with a brilliantly geeky idea: Run Free 2013, a marathon that (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone!) doesn’t actually involve running. Continue Reading “Run Free: A Marathon* for Everyone” »